Colorado Real Estate Journal - November 4, 2015
Whether a model for infill development or an example of too much density, Boulder Junction is a community-changing project for Boulder. The 160-acre transit-oriented development represents many years of complex planning and collaboration by public agencies, the community and private developers. Yet much has happened since Depot Square – a pivotal part of the project – broke ground two years ago. How Boulder Junction came to be and where it is headed was the subject of an Oct. 21 Urban Land Institute Colorado program on site. “The transformation that’s taken place here in a short amount of time is pretty amazing,” Charles Ferro, city development review manager, said at the ULI event. Depot Square includes a new, underground Regional Transportation District bus rapid transit station that will ramp up in January. It is covered by 71 affordable apartments that wrap around a four-story parking structure and connect to a Hyatt Place Hotel that opened in May. Developed by Pedersen Development, Depot Square includes a renovated, historic train depot that will house a restaurant operated by the Denver-based owners of Spanky’s Urban Roadhouse. Solana 3100 Pearl, a 319-unit market-rate apartment community with street-level retail, is complete and occupied. Pearl Parkway from 30th Street to Foothills Parkway was transformed into a “multiway boulevard” with room for bikes and pedestrians on either side. Junction Place – a street shared by pedestrians, bikes and cars – and a new bridge over Goose Creek were completed. Coburn Development just received its certificate of occupancy for Nickel Flats, a 16-unit building with mostly one- and two-bedroom condos that presold at an average $375,000 per unit. But with some of Boulder Junction’s larger projects and a second phase of development still to come, “It’s very much a work in progress,” said Ferro. Upcoming mixed-use developments include S’PARK, an 11-acre project with a wide variety of housing product, as well as commercial and public space; Boulder Commons, a 100,000-square-foot office/retail project; and the Reve Pearl District with 244 housing units and more than 130,000 sf of commercial space. S’PARK recently received unanimous approval from the city’s planning board – an unusual feat in Boulder. “We’re extremely humbled by this, especially given the hostile development environment right now. It was very challenging to get approved,” said Scott Holton of Element Properties, which is developing the project. Holton said S’PARK strictly adheres to the city’s Transit Village Area Plan and a plan for regional transportation connections. In addition, “I think we brought forth something I don’t think the city knew they were craving, which was a really diverse project,” he said, referring to a breadth of housing types and commercial uses. “We really focused on providing a place for diverse peoples – a place for various ages, professions, cultures, interests. We included nonprofits right from the get-go,” said Holton. Expected to be under construction in mid-2016, S’PARK will include 247 housing units in a dozen buildings. Of those, 77 will be permanently affordable apartments and townhomes; 39 will be market-rate, for sale condo flats and townhomes ranging from $500,000 to $750,000; and 129 will be market-rate rental apartment flats, live/work units and townhouses ranging from $1,100 to $2,400 per month. There will be 120,000 sf of restaurant, retail and office space; 434 parking spaces; and 714 bicycle parking spaces, as well as a woonerf and plaza. “Public spaces are the new anchor tenants,” said Holton. Upslope Brewing Co. will take the first floor of a 55,000-sf commercial building that also will have three micro-restaurants to showcase emerging chefs. Community Cycles will be headquartered in the project; both its and Upslope’s spaces will have large windows that allow people passing by to see what’s happening inside. “I want this to be people’s favorite place in Boulder,” Holton said. S’PARK is striving to become the first neighborhood in Colorado to achieve LEED for Neighborhood Development Platinum certification. It would be the second neighborhood of that kind in the nation and, likely, seventh in the world, according to Holton. Morgan Creek Ventures will develop Boulder Commons. Construction documents for that project are in the city review process, while the Reve Pearl District, a portion of which falls within the Transit Village Area Plan, is anticipated for site review late this year or in early 2016. The city of Boulder doesn’t yet have a plan to support public infrastructure improvements for the second phase of Boulder Junction, so development of that part of the project likely is several years away. The density being achieved at Boulder Junction, which is cattycorner from the future Google campus, is a cause of celebration on the part of some Boulderites and a cause of concern for others. As ULI pointed out, some view it as “the realization of an urban dream for higher-density housing and commercial,” while others see it as too dense and out of scale with the rest of the community.